The Atlantic: CIA director would not dissuade Trump if he decided to cut off intelligence to Ukraine

The US has not officially suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe would not try to talk President Donald Trump out of it if he decided to do so.

Source: The Atlantic; European Pravda

Details: Last week, Ukraine got a glimpse of what it could be like to have less intelligence support from the US. Reports emerged about disruptions to the Starlink satellite network and US early-warning systems, which blinded Ukraine to some incoming Russian missiles and limited its ability to intercept them, people familiar with the matter told The Atlantic.

A Ukrainian intelligence official pointed the finger at the Americans, but technical failures may also have played a part in Ukraine's inability to intercept some of the incoming missiles.

Officially, the Americans have not yet turned off the flow of intelligence, although Trump could act at any time. If Trump were to do so, people who have worked with Ratcliffe said that he would not try to convince the president to change his mind, despite misgivings at CIA headquarters.

The Atlantic notes that while relations between the leaders of Ukraine and the US may have reached a personal nadir, the US intelligence community has not ceased its fight to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Armed with information provided by the US, the Ukrainian military is launching strikes deep inside Russia. Meanwhile, US spy satellites provide early warning about incoming missiles and drones.

Among US personnel on the ground, "the CIA is in the lead", a retired senior officer who travels frequently to Ukraine said. The Atlantic notes that the Ukrainians, with the CIA's help, have become too adept at striking Russia for Trump's liking.

An intelligence officer in the Baltics, who works closely with the Americans to counter Russian influence, revealed that although you would never know it from Trump's rhetoric, CIA operations are now "much more aggressive" than they were during the Biden administration.

"The Ukrainians don't see Ratcliffe as their advocate. They know he works for a mercurial boss, and that if Trump were to follow through on his recent threat to halt intelligence support unless Ukraine stops attacking Russian oil refineries, Ratcliffe would carry out the order," The Atlantic noted.

However, the CIA helped create the modern Ukrainian intelligence apparatus after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Partly owing to this long history, officials in Kyiv stated that they trust Ratcliffe to tell Trump the truth about the war, and not simply what the president wants to hear.

More than a dozen current and former intelligence officials The Atlantic spoke with in the US and Europe described Ratcliffe, who served as the director of national intelligence in Trump's first term, as a person who is clear-eyed about the threat Russia poses not just to Ukraine, but to the US and its allies.

Background:

• The Washington Post reported that the US had threatened Ukraine with a halt to intelligence sharing if the Ukrainian military launched further strikes on Russian energy facilities.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in an interview with NPR on 14 October that the Ukrainian military had received warnings and threats regarding intelligence sharing, but they have not yet been acted upon.

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